Advance Costs and Trusts: Little Sisters and Okanagan Distinguished

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Case commented on: 1985 Sawridge Trust v Alberta (Public Trustee), 2013 ABCA 226

The Alberta Court of Appeal recently upheld an award of advance costs originally granted in 1985 Sawridge Trust v Alberta (Public Trustee), 2013 ABCA 226. In so doing, the Court of Appeal distinguished British Columbia (Minister of Forests) v Okanagan Indian Band, 2003 SCC 71, [2003] 3 SCR 371 [Okanagan] and Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v Canada (Commissioner of Customs and Revenue), 2007 SCC 2, [2007] 1 SCR 38 [Little Sisters (No.2)] concluding that the strict requirements of Little Sisters and Okanagan did not apply in the unique, non-adversarial circumstances of Sawridge Trust.

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Domestic Violence Cases: A Summer Snapshot

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Cases commented on: R v Hooker, 2013 ABQB 271; R v Bandesha, 2013 ABCA 255

There were a number of reported Alberta cases involving domestic violence this summer. The decisions collectively illustrate the broad range of issues that can arise in domestic violence cases – for example, constitutional, criminal and family law issues – some of which may now be heard by specialized domestic violence courts. They also show a range of sensitivities on the part of judges to the realities of domestic violence. In this post I will comment on two of the cases, both arising in the criminal context, and in a subsequent post I will comment on two cases arising in the family law context.

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Blurred Lines: The Need for Clear Criteria in the Sentencing of Sexual Assaults

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Case commented on: R v Sam, 2013 ABCA 174

What is a “major sexual assault” for the purposes of applying sentencing guidelines in sexual assault cases? Its current definition is unclear. The Alberta Court of Appeal missed an opportunity to provide a concrete definition for major sexual assault in R v Sam, 2013 ABCA 174. This comment will begin by providing background on Sam, and describing how the Court of Appeal did not directly address the issue of major sexual assault in that case. Then, I will discuss how the Court of Appeal should clarify the relevance of violence and de facto consent to sexual assault at the stage of sentencing. Finally, I will argue that factors that are irrelevant to legal culpability for sexual assault may still be relevant at the stage of sentencing.

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Roundtable on Ontario v Criminal Lawyers’ Association of Ontario

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Cases Considered: Ontario v Criminal Lawyers’ Association of Ontario, 2013 SCC 43

On August 13, 2013, Faculty of Law hosted its last Roundtable discussion of the summer. That discussion focused on the Supreme Court of Canada’s August 1st decision in Ontario v Criminal Lawyers’ Association of Ontario, 2013 SCC 43 concerning the compensation to be paid to a lawyer appointed to act as a “friend of the court”, known as an amicus curiae. Participants included faculty members, researchers from the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre, JD and graduate students, and a post-doc fellow. What participants found most controversial about the decision was not the court’s 5:4 split on the compensation issue, but rather the court’s unanimity on the inappropriateness — and henceforth, presumably, inability — of courts to appoint amicus curiae to act as de facto defence counsel.

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Why Wreck-It Ralph Went to Law School

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Matter commented on: The Ontario Bar Association’s marketing campaign, Why I went to Law School

 “I’m bad, and that’s good. I will never be good, and that’s not bad. There’s no one I’d rather be than me.” – Wreck-It Ralph

The Ontario Bar Association’s marketing campaign, Why I went to Law School, has attracted media attention (see National Post article here and Globe and Mail article here) as well as being cogently criticized by Jordan Furlong on SLAW back in February (see article here). I want to add my two cents to that conversation. What I say is informed by two things.  First, in my role as Director of Admissions at the University of Calgary I have read some 2000 statements by law school applicants answering the very question posed by the OBA: “Why do you want to go to law school?” Second, as a law professor, and in particular as a law professor interested in regulation of things like lawyer civility, I have thought a lot about how the profession ought to respond to its oft-referenced “poor public image”.

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